Seven steps to insanity
by the-purple-black
Summary: There was seven things in Bellatrix Lestrange's life that made her turn out to be the insane woman she was the day she died. Andromeda looks back on this at her sisters funeral. Read inside for a better summary. Rated M for later chapters
1. 1998

**May I present, my present to my readers for me being a crap person and updating every other month, now let me tell you, IT'S CHANGING!! :D :D I handed in my last piece of course work last week! Hell yeah! So may I present, my story; my opinion on the seven things that drove Bellatrix insane. There will be nine chapters to this, this chapter, then each step will have its own chapter then finaly a finishing off chapter. I'm so happy about this story, never have I loved something I've written or wanted to write something so much. I hope you enjoy this fic as much as I am. Enjoy.**

**I own nothing from the Harry Potter universe.**

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_**Chapter one - 1998**_

Bellatrix Lestrange was dead. She was buried in an unmarked grave for obvious reasons. It was a small funeral on a dark, cloudy evening. It had to be done at night, otherwise there would be people who would start a riot and ruin the already miserable event. Eight people attended the funeral. Lucius, Narcissa and Draco Malfoy, Druella Black, Rodolphus Lestrange and the two Aurors accompanying him and last but not least Andromeda Tonks, hidden out of view.

Lucius had an arm around his sobbing wife and was staring blankly at the grave in front of him. He had never really liked his sister-in-law; in fact he'd loathed her. But his wife had insisted that her 'last sister' get a proper burial, the one she apparently deserved. Lucius Malfoy sighed and, to pass the time, made a list in his head of all of the people who would disagree with his wife.

Draco stared at the wet and muddy ground. He wanted to not be at his Aunt's funeral more than anything. His childhood had been stripped away from him because of the war, and Bellatrix had been such a major part in everything, the Dark Lord's most faithful. Everything had started to go terribly wrong in his life as soon as his Aunt showed up along with his Uncle and the rest of the escaped Death Eaters, and now it was all over he only wanted to forget the last few nightmarish years. This event was just bringing back memories, stopping Draco from moving on.

Narcissa was the only person crying at the funeral. Her sister had been taken from her yet again; first she had been taken from her by the Dementors, then insanity pulled the old Bella that Cissy once knew away from her and then even the insane, evil woman that her sister had became was taken away from her. She continued to cry.

Druella had no emotion for her eldest daughter. She merely stood there, leaning on her walking stick, looking displeased as she almost always did. For as long as she could remember Bellatrix had always been a disappointment to her, an embarrassment, something to hide away and not to love. Druella could not remember ever loving her first daughter.

Rodolphus was stood in-between two Aurors. Unlike his late wife he had managed to survive the great Battle of Hogwarts, although part of him wished he hadn't; he wished he had died, as now he had to return to the place that had been his living hell for the past fourteen years; Azkaban. He stared at the coffin containing his once-beautiful wife as it was lowered into its grave. Once upon a time he had loved Bellatrix with all of his heart, but of course he was your average Pureblood man and Bellatrix was not your average Pureblood woman. She had never been able to give him the sons he had wanted, nor had she followed the rules a Pureblood wife was expected to follow. And of course, he had made Bellatrix pay for this on numerous occasions. Although, in his own way, Rodolphus Lestrange did miss his wife. It was not as much as he should have, but he did miss her.

Andromeda was stood behind her once-family, far enough so that they did not yet realise that she was there but she could clearly see them through the mist. Although her eldest sister had caused so much pain and misery in her life, taking her only daughter from her only months after she had given birth to Andromeda's first and now only grandchild and taking the love of her life away from her, her husband, she could not help but mourn her sister's death. As much as Bellatrix had made clear that she never wanted to see her again, would kill her on sight and after all of the harsh words she had said to her, Andromeda was still sure that at least one part of her sister had loved her.

The Aurors Dissapparated with Rodolphus to take him away as soon as the service finished. Andromeda was lost in thought and therefore only realized her mother turning around to leave once it was already too late. She was spotted. A look of fury mixed with slight insanity overtook Druella's face as she threw her walking stick down and pointed her wand at her disowned child, storming towards her with surprising speed for the old woman unaided.

"How dare you show your face here!!!" She screamed and then threw a stinging hex, one she'd used oh-so-often on Bellatrix as a child, at Andromeda.

The younger woman was sent flying backwards with a yell of pain. It was clear that this woman was Bellatrix Lestrange's mother. It was only at this point that everyone turned around and realised what was going on. .

"Mother!!!" Narcissa cried through her tears and ran to her mother's side.

There was silence for a few moments as Andromeda and Druella had a glare-off. Lucius retrieved his mother-in-law's walking stick and passed it to her.

"Thank you, Lucius." Druella spoke in a sweet voice and smiled at her son-in-law as she took the stick off of him. She then without warning struck Andromeda harshly over the head with the walking stick. The woman, who was almost trying to pull herself to her feet, fell back to the floor again.

"Stop it!!" Andromeda yelled and crawled out of the reach of her mother's walking stick before she pulled herself to her feet, glaring.

Druella went to try and hit Andromeda again but her youngest – and in her opinion – only daughter grabbed her arm, tears streaming down her pale face.

"Please, Mother! Not here! Not now! I beg of you!" Narcissa cried.

Druella snarled and shoved her daughter away from her, making her fall back into her husband, who took her in his arms and held her as she cried.

"You stupid girl!! You pathetic, Mudblood-loving failure!! That's the one thing Bellatrix ever did right, Andromeda!!! Killing off your pathetic excuse of a family!! What did you think would happen when you went with that pathetic excuse of a man!?!?!?!?" Druella continued to throw abusive comments at the woman in front of her.

Andromeda winced, she knew it did no good to retaliate and right now she wanted nothing more than to go get her grandson off of Molly Weasley and go home. She waited for her mother to run out of insults to use but Druella continued to shout.

"You're a pathetic excuse of a witch, Andromeda Tonks! I hope you rot in hell with that Mudblood and that Half-Blooded freak of yours! And look where she's gotten you!!! Looking after another freak child! At your age!!!!" Druella seemed to have been storing up her hatred for her middle daughter since the day she had left as she continued to yell abuse over her youngest daughter's crying.

Dromeda looked down and did what she had done when she was waiting for her mother to stop shouting at Bella when she was a small girl – she thought of other things. She thought of her now-deceased sister. As her own mother was shouting at her for being at her own sister's funeral she realized see how Bellatrix had ended up in her grave today. Insanity. Andromeda thought for a while (Druella was still shouting like there was no tomorrow) and narrowed it down to seven things that had turned her insane . . . seven steps to insanity

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**I don't think I'm too happy about the ending but it's all I could think of! I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please leave me reviews; they help me get the motivation to update faster. :D . . . plus I'm a secret fairy killer who kills one fairy every time someone reads my story but doesn't review . . . *Hides the I heart fairies merchandise* . . . Honest! I am! XD By the way I already have chapter two and half of chapter three written so the speed this is updated shall depend on the responce it gets. And to my watchers, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my other stories, each one shall have a new chapter by a fortnights time. :) So please, Review! :D **


	2. Step One, The Mother

_**Er . . . I'm sorry, I forgot to load this. Been mega stressed with Drama lately. :( Sorry. Enjoy.**_

_**I own nothing to do with the Harry Potter universe appart from some merchandise etc. ^_^**__**

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_**December 15th, 1951**_

It took moments for Druella Black to decide that she didn't love her daughter, her first-born child. It was her husband who decided this for her with the harsh slap he gave her as soon as the Healers had left the Manor.

She could understand why he had hit her and why, after doing so, he had stormed out of the room, presumably straight to his study to drink his worries away. She had failed him. She had given him a daughter instead of the son he had so desperately wanted – no – needed to carry on the Black family name. Ever since the moment Druella had taken her pregnancy test and it had told him she was pregnant, Cygnus had been over the moon, ranting about his new son, what names, possible wives, his plans for his unborn son and what a proud father he would be. It had been the happiest Druella had ever seen her husband.

The newborn baby Druella was cradling in her arms had stopped that good mood. Not only had it stopped this good mood but also it had sent Cygnus into probably one of the worst moods his wife had ever seen him in. It was this that made Druella not care that her child was crying, and had been since she'd squeezed out the small bundle of disappointment.

Druella named her child Bellatrix, Latin for female warrior. Not because she looked at the child and thought she looked strong like a warrior, but because she knew that with her temper and hatred for the child coupled with her husband's her daughter would need to be a warrior to survive her childhood. Druella laughed a cold, dry laugh. Yes, Bellatrix would need to be very strong.

_**June 18th, 1953**_

Bellatrix Black had spent her first two years of life struggling to get her parents attention. No one cared much for the small child. There had, of course, been the relatives that had came to see her when she was born, but this only worked against Bellatrix. They all came, not to see the newborn baby, but to make snide remarks about how she wasn't the son the Blacks wanted. Everyone was ecstatic over the fact that they could finally shut up Cygnus Black about his 'perfect son' on the way.

It was lucky for Bellatrix that she had shown signs of magic so early, because if she hadn't it was certain that her father's attempt to throw her against a brick wall would have killed such a small person. But Cygnus wasn't expecting a bouncing baby. Showing such magic at such a young age would have usually made parents ecstatic but for the Blacks it only sent Cygnus into a rage which ended in him hitting Druella instead, which of course made Druella accidentally-on-purpose forget about the brat for a few hours whilst it cried and cried for attention.

But for now two-year-old Bellatrix Black was stood outside her parents bedroom, staring blankly at the door. The screaming had started hours ago now and when Bellatrix had gone to tell her mother to shut up she had been sent flying into the wall by a curse shot by her mother, after her father had said nearly every insult he could think of at the poor child, of course, and had been knocked unconscious until about five minutes ago.

Bellatrix Black wasn't scared of anything, not even her mother in a bad mood . . . or so she liked to tell herself. Her mother was the scary one, shouting and screaming at her with the odd curse thrown in her direction, her father still scared her but not so much. He'd simply shout and maybe once in a while she'd get a kick or a hit but Cygnus Black preferred to calm himself down with a large bottle of fire whiskey in his study. Of course, once Bellatrix got older her father's attitude and punishments would change, but she did not know this so she didn't worry.

The screaming stopped. Bellatrix ran to the door and lay down, trying to see under the crack under the door.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Cygnus snarled at his daughter.

Bellatrix looked up, without realising and without giving her time to react her father had opened the door and was now bending down to reach her. He grabbed her by her hair and pulled her to her feet, glaring at her.

"Ow!" Bellatrix complained, "I was just wondering! Gerroff!"

She squirmed to try and get out of her fathers grip. This, of course, was the wrong thing to do. Cygnus slapped his eldest daughter hard then let go of her hair. "Insolent little brat!" Cygnus glared then walked over to sit down next to his wife on the bed.

Tears fell from Bellatrix's eyes and she quickly wiped them away. She stood there, staring at her parents, trying to figure out what they were doing until she realized something.

"You're not fat anymore, mummy." Bellatrix frowned, confused.

Druella gasped and grabbed her wand from the side "You little brat!!"

Her mother threw a curse at Bellatrix before she could move out of the way and for the second time that day she came to be unconscious.

Druella smirked then looked down at the new baby girl in her arms. Andromeda Black was loved the moment her sister had walked into the room. Cygnus seemed happy with his new daughter; Druella guessed it was because he was venting his anger on his first child. The disappointment.

_**January 31st, 1955**_

At the time of her youngest sisters birth Bellatrix Black was locked in the cupboard under the stairs. Her father had put her there the moment her mother's water had broken, he'd decided he'd put her there simply so he didn't have to worry about her, not that he ever really did. The cupboard under the stairs had become almost like a second bedroom to Bellatrix.

There was a knock on the cupboard door and Bellatrix sat bolt upright again and grabbed the broom next to her, ready to hit her mother over the head with it when she came to pull her out. She deserved it. Although it was not the harsh, cold voice of her mother that she heard, or even her father's deep, authoritive voice, it was the sweet and childish voice of Bellatrix's little sister, Andromeda.

"Bewwa?" She called out for her older sister.

Bellatrix smiled faintly, glad of the company of her little sister, even if they were separated by wooden door, Bellatrix still took comfort in the fact that Andromeda was there.

"Yeah?" Bellatrix replied.

"Oh Bewwa! I'm scared! Why's mummy scweaming?" The younger girls voice was trembling as she cried slightly.

"Don't cry Dromeda." Bella said as comfortingly as she could manage, leaning against the door "I dunno . . . last time though, when she was really fat, she screamed and screamed and then you popped out."

"O-Oh." Dromeda wiped her tears away then after a few moments a look of confusion overtook her face "But why she scweaming again? I'm already here so she doesn't need to scream . . . I'm confused Bewwa." She frowned, leaning against the door.

" . . . Oh you would be, you're still little. You'll know these things when you're bigger, like me." Bella grinned, in reality she didn't know either but she liked to seem big and strong to Dromeda. Bella loved the fact that someone cared about her, even looked up to her, so of course she played on that as much as she could.

The girls talked for nearly an hour before Andromeda's voice disappeared. Cygnus had come to show Andromeda her new baby sister. The next morning Bellatrix was let out of the cupboard by her mother. She managed to stay conscious the first time she saw Narcissa Black.

_**September 1st, 1962**_

Eleven year old Bellatrix Black was curled up on her bed, crying her eyes out, when her mother walked in.

"What on earth are you doing girl!? Get ready!!" Druella walked over to Bellatrix and dragged her up off of her bed by the hair, "Oh stop your whining!"

Druella walked over to her daughters suitcase, opening it up and rummaging through to make sure the troublesome brat hadn't put anything in there that would show up the Blacks.

Bellatrix eventually stopped crying and once her mother had approved of the things she had packed they left for the platform without giving her a chance to say goodbye to her sisters, her only friends at that point in her life.

In public Bellatrix was treated very differently. Druella actually pretended that she loved Bella, although of course this was only so that the entire wizarding world wouldn't think Mr and Mrs Black failures as parents.

This should have been a nice experience for Bellatrix, she should have been excited and happy as all of the other children around her were. This was after all her first day ever at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. But as she left her mother and got onto the Hogwarts Express, the one thing that she was far from being was happy.

Druella never questioned why Bellatrix had been crying that day; she never cared enough to ask. When she got home to her husband after she had seen off her daughter she never even questioned why he had a smirk plastered on his face. Druella was only the beginning of what turned Bellatrix Black insane.

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_**I'll say thank you to everyone that reviews by putting their username in the Author note with a thank you. :) lol Reviews are welcomed with open arms. ^_^**_


	3. Step Two, The Father

_**Okay, I'd like to say SORRY! For the wait. But unfortunately I may not be able to update this for a while and if I do it'll only be on the weekends, if I don't you'll have to wait a month. I'm doing my GCSE's at the moment and they're hard.  
So enjoy and please review. ^_^ I apologize for the length.  
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It all started the day before Bellatrix's first day of Hogwarts. Bellatrix Black was alone in her room, packing her bags. She was grinning excitedly as she threw anything and everything into her suitcase. Soon she'd be away from all of this, away from her abusive parents, her boring locked-in life, the stupid relatives, the even stupider rules. Soon she'd be free. Well, that's how she saw it; young and innocent Bellatrix Black.

But today was the day that all that changed, the day that Bellatrix was no longer an innocent child. It all began with two quiet knocks at her door.

The young girl sighed and continued to pack. She assumed it was one of her sisters as neither her mother nor her father would have the kindness to knock on her door; they would quite happily just stroll into her room at any time of the day or night.

"Come in..." Bella called.

The person who walked in was neither Andromeda nor Narcissa but Bellatrix's father, Cygnus Black. Bellatrix's eyes widened slightly and she stopped packing, instead standing upright and looking to her father.

"Y-yes?" She asked, trying to look brave in the eyes of the man who she feared the most at that moment in her life.

The man smirked and went to sit on his daughter's bed. "Come sit next to your father, Bellatrix."

Bella did as she was told, slightly hesitant; her father seemed to be in a good mood. This was odd, very odd.

"Now... Bella," The man's smirk grew as he spoke his daughters nickname, snaking an arm around her small waist, "It's your first day at Hogwarts tomorrow. Do you know what that means?"

Bellatrix quickly shook her head, she was frozen with fear in her father's grip, she could sense trouble coming her way and she didn't like it one bit.

Cygnus chuckled, fingering the hem of the small girls skirt "It means, that you're going to meet lots of boys."

He watched as she couldn't help but smile slightly. Bellatrix had thought about this a lot. A boy was her ticket out of this place, a nice Pureblood boy. Someone to love and protect her, something she had not yet experienced.

Cygnus gripped her daughter's thigh tightly causing a gasp to escape the young girl's lip, the old man's hand creeping further up as her eyes widened.

The next half hour of Bellatrix's life would haunt her forever more. When she sat in her lonely cell in Azkaban, with no-one but the soul-sucking Dementors to ensure that empty hole inside of her only grew and ached more and more each second of her miserable existence, that was one of the moments she was forced to replay again and again whilst her sanity slowly slipped away from her.

But as the now broken girl laid bloody and naked under her sheets, curled into a ball and hugging an old teddy bear so hard its old tattered head threatened to fall off, Bellatrix Black had not yet been sent over the edge into the dark abyss of insanity. It was her younger sister, Andromeda, who assured this.

When the younger girl had seen her father walk out of her older sisters room, a cold yet satisfied smirk upon his lips, she knew straight away that her big sister needed comfort. As much as her parents thought otherwise Andromeda Black knew all about her parents' exact behaviour towards Bellatrix. When her mother or father would take Bellatrix away it was all too obvious what was going on. Although Narcissa was... lacking intelligence, Andromeda was not. She was smart enough, even at her young age, to know what was happening, especially when Bella gained mysterious bruises and scars that could not be explained.

Andromeda walked into her sister's room, wincing at the pain it caused her to hear her big sister cry. "B-Bella...?" She spoke in a quiet voice to not startle her.

Bellatrix only continued to cry, completely ignoring her sister's presence in the room. Dromeda silently crept over to Bella, crawling onto the bed and laying next to her. She wrapped her arms around her and kissed her cheek.

"I love you Bella..." Dromeda said innocently, hugging her sister tight.

Bella burst out into renewed sobs then turned and hugged her sister tightly, crying into the younger girls shoulder.

Cygnus continued to sexually abuse his first child for what seemed like forever to Bellatrix. And every time Cygnus left Bella within the hour Andromeda would be beside her, hugging her, stroking her hair and telling her everything was going to be okay. Even when Bella no longer cried for the sins her father committed Dromeda continued to come and make her feel better, only ever finding out what was actually going on once she was in her third year of Hogwarts.

Andromeda was the person keeping Bellatrix sane during her teenage years; she would have fallen to pieces without her. The two sisters loved each other more than anything. But everything had to change the summer after Andromeda's fifth year and nothing would ever be the same for any of the three sisters again. Another large step into the mutilating of Bellatrix's sanity.

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_**Review and I shall love you forever. :) x]**_

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	4. Step Three, The Sister

_Sorry for the long wait, I've been sooooo busy and so has my Beta. But I'm gonna TRY to be quicker, I know I always say that but I'm sorry. I'm on my summer Holidays so I have more time now anyway. :) Thanks to all who reviewed last time!! :D Cookies for all!_

Anywho, hope you enjoy.

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_This isn't right . . . Not happening . . . Can't be real . . . It's a joke . . . This isn't funny . . . _those thoughts probably would have been some of the many running through her mind at that moment if it weren't for the heart-breaking shock that took over her the very instant her younger sister had explained the urgent letter that had been flown through the window of Bella's manor in France (Bellatrix had recently married wealthy pureblood Rodolphus Lestrange) pleading with her to return to her childhood home immediately.

Of course, Bellatrix now regretted the decision to come as soon as she had heard what Andromeda had to say to her. She sat in her sisters room, mouth wide open in what would have been a comical look of shock if it weren't for the intense look of emotional pain that was clearly shown in her tear brimmed, dark eyes. She had been sat like this for what then seemed like an eternity, Andromeda staring at the floor to hide her tear stained face until the elder sister finally spoke.

"No . . ." Was the only word Bella could say in her shaky voice, barely above a whisper.

Andromeda looked up, pulling her tear sodden hair out of her face and looking at her elder sister; she had of course expected this reaction and prepared what she was going to say. She took a deep breath to stop herself breaking out into yet more tears but before the words could leave poor Andromeda Black's lips, Bellatrix was on her feet, shaking her head, pacing the room and speaking in a raised voice, clearly she had gotten her voice back.

"No! Don't be stupid Andromeda... Stupid... Not going to happen... He's a _Mudblood _Drommie!!" Her words came out hysterically and pleadingly whilst the elder sister tugged at her curled hair in desperation.

"Bellatrix I love him! I want to marry him!" Dromeda looked at her sister through tear filled eyes.

"You love him?" Bella asked "More than me? ... More than Cissy? ... More than your _family_?"

The two sisters stared at each other for a few moments, tears streaked down each of their faces, both with a begging look in their eyes. They stood like this for what seemed like hours to each sister. Neither had any doubt that this would be the last time they saw the other-at least on good term- as both believed such strongly in their views. It was Andromeda who spoke first.

"I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry that you can't look over something as simple as someone's blood to stay with the people you love . . ." Tears filled the younger sister's eyes and voice as she looked at her sister one last time and turned to leave.

"Don't think I'll accept you again, Andromeda!" All sorrow was gone from Bellatrix Lestrange's voice as she spoke to her sister with what seemed to be pure hatred "You'll regret this! . . . I hate you . . . I have only one sister and it isn't some Mudblood loving blood traitor!!"

Andromeda didn't even turn to see her sisters face, she simply looked down at the floor and said, in words so quiet it was barely a whisper "Goodbye, Bella . . ."

And with that Andromeda Black left to face her parents.

Bellatrix slid against the wall, falling to the floor and clutching her knees to her chest as she cried for her lost sister. Moments later, when the furious yells of their parents could be heard throughout the manor, the youngest Black sister, Narcissa, walked in. A look of confusion was across her face as she looked to Bellatrix.

"B-Bella . . . What's going on? Why are Mother and Father shouting at Drommie?" Cissy asked, her brows furrowed in confusion.

Bella looked up and simply opened her arms for her sister, pulling her close and crying into her hair, she'd let Cissy find out from her parents. And as the two sisters sat there, it was not revenge or anger that went through the eldest's mind, but hurt, sorrow and loneliness, all of which she would never admit. And even as she swore hatred and revenge later in life to the sister that had left her, no matter what Bellatrix said, she never stopped loving Andromeda Black.

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_Yeah, I know it's short, sorry. Hope you enjoyed it though. :)_

Reviews are my Oxygen *Insert corny mojo*

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	5. Step Four, The Husband

**_Woop! Another chapter! Sorry for waits, I'm trying REALLY hard to get better at it. For people reading my other stories, I AM still doing them, it's just that this is the only story I can get solid ideas for. Sorry. _****_I'm sorry if I messed up the format with this, I've had a few problems with it. lol Thanks to Lou for helping me with getting ideas and kicking my arse into gear with this and as always thanks to my amazing beta Ellie who still manages to beta my stuff even when she leaves me to go half way around the world. *Claps* Love you! _**Anyway; I do not own Harry Potter, anything you see in here that you recognize I do not own.  
Enjoy and please review. :)

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Bella fled back to France as soon as she could; it was too much for her. Blood, screaming, general massacre and torture she could deal with, but the heartbroken look on her youngest sister's beautiful tear-stained face as her Mother told her Andromeda was dead to her now was too much to bare.

At that moment in time all Bellatrix Lestrange cared for was to be with her husband, in one of her rare emotional moods where she would rather curl up into the arms of the man that loved her than let her wild temper run free. But if Bella thought she would receive such love from the man she had married tonight she was much mistaken.

As soon as she arrived at her manor she spotted her husband. She had apparated into the living room. Mascara still ran down Bellatrix's face and as she wiped away the last of the tears as she approached her husband.

"Rod...?" She called his name.

Rodolphus looked up at her from his armchair near the fire, a sinister glow on his face. But this didn't matter much to Bellatrix, she simply sat down on his lap as soon as she reached him, curling up. She stared ahead blankly into the fire, trying so hard not to cry - crying was  
weak really, and she was already ashamed of herself for letting herself cry in the first place - that she did not notice that her husband did not wrap his muscular arms around his wife or respond to her in anyway as she sat herself down upon him.

Rodolphus was in a bad mood. The couple sat like this for a few long moments before Rodolphus spoke up, his deep voice with his ever-fading French accent awakening his English wife from her thoughts.

"I went to see Francis today..." He said, finally responding to his wife, looking down at her and pulling her closer in what could have been mistaken for a loving gesture.

Bellatrix's eyes widened slightly, she knew exactly who Francis was. When Rodolphus was a small boy his mother had made him play with the other pure-blooded children, trying to gain status and raise him higher in later life by knowing the better off and more well known pureblood families. Francis was one of the only boys that Mrs Lestrange introduced to young Rodolphus who didn't end up with a hole punched in the side of his face, or other various violent pass-times. A year ago Francis had married a pure blooded French woman, Cassandra Ellis. Nine months ago, Cassandra had fallen pregnant... Bellatrix knew where this was going before her husband even spoke.

"Cassandra gave birth this morning..." Rodolphus' grip on his wife tightened, his fingers digging painfully into her flesh.

Bellatrix didn't even dare ask what she had given birth to. Once she was violently thrown from her husband's arms and to the cold, hard floor, her head narrowly missing the fireplace, she could guess well enough.

"YOU CAN'T EVEN GIVE ME ONE GOD FORSAKEN SON AND FRANCIS GETS TWIN BOYS, BELLATRIX! _TWINS_! TWO OF THEM!" Rodolphus was on his feet in a blur of sudden rage, towering over his wife.

Bellatrix stared up at her husband. Her fiery and wild personality was her best feature, in Bellatrix's opinion, but faced with the sudden wrath of her husband as her wand rolled across the carpet and under the couch where she had dropped it in shock, she knew it was best to 'play dead'. She took it. Punch after punch after kick after punch. It was all an endless blur of shouting and hitting.

She lay there, doing as she did years ago when it was her father and not her lover giving out the abuse; she got lost in her own mind, thought of other things. Memories. Memories of her husband...

That first day at Hogwarts on the Hogwarts express when he had been the cute little boy who barely spoke any English that young Bella Black had sat next to.

Running home that Christmas and begging her mother to get her French lessons so she could talk to the boy that had made such a big impression on her.

Second year when Rodolphus, now fluent in English and French, had proudly spoken to Bella without stumbling or saying silly things he never meant to say.

Third year, that first beautiful time they ever "made love".

Fourth year when she curled up in his arms, he having finally just found out about the abuse her parents handed out to her, in particular her father.

Fifth year, when she had stayed by his side all night - much to Madame Pomfrey's displeasure - when Rod had had a nasty fall from his broom whilst playing Quidditch and been rendered unconscious for 26 hours.

Sixth year when they had been sat by the lake, Rodolphus, in what Bellatrix had thought of as a joke at the time, had promised to marry her one day and make her Bellatrix Black Lestrange...  
How beautiful that had sounded to her back then...

Seventh year when they had spent their final day at school curled up in Rodolphus' bed in his dorm, having kicked the rest of the boys out of his room, spending the whole day talking and making love . . . and that particular moment on the train home the next day when he had proposed to her; apparently he'd asked her father weeks beforehand and had been working up the courage to ask her . . .

And, of course, their wedding day. The only day in her life where Bellatrix had felt the centre of attention, nothing could go wrong, she was going to be happy for the rest of her life. No more father, no more rape, no more beatings, no more hiding scars and bruises and the misery that haunted her childhood... How wrong could she be?

This wasn't the first time Rodolphus had beaten his wife. After a few weeks Bellatrix had 'tried his patience' too much. Apparently behaviour that Bellatrix had shown with pride before their marriage was no longer acceptable now she was 'his'. She had to do everything her husband asked, apparently it was her 'duty as his wife', she could never show him up or be better than him in public, that was unheard of. But this was not Bellatrix Black, nor was it Bellatrix Lestrange.

Of course it was not like this all of the time, Rod and Bella were still very much in love, but Rod still had a view of the perfect pureblood wife and Bella was definitely not it and unwilling to change into what had once described as 'Mindless idiots who have nothing better  
to do than kiss their husbands arses and obey their every stupid whim no matter how fucked up and against their morals it may be.'

But it was for this that Bellatrix payed dearly for. That and the obvious taunting matter that she couldn't produce a son for her husband. No matter how much she had tried, no matter what Bellatrix did she could not give her husband the son he so desperately desired. That was the one thing Bellatrix had wanted to do as a 'pure-blooded wife'; produce a son. The one thing she would submit to.

Because that was what she had wanted more than anything else in the world until that one terrible day she had gone to St. Mungo's and her dream had been shattered into a million tiny pieces... and it was that memory that Bellatrix played through her mind as a particularly harsh blow to her head with her husband's boot knocked her under into the blankness of her mind.

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**_Every review you get I put Bella through a little less misery in my fics . . . or do I? Review and find out! lmao  
*Wonders who will spot what celebrity WHO I MET SATURDAY NIGHT :D:D:D influenced a name for this fic* x]  
Thanks for reading!_**

**_xxx_**


	6. Step Five, The Son

**_Yeah guys, sorry, I know it's been a long time and I am really sorry, but College is buuuuuuuusy. I will try and finish all of my RP's as soon as possible, I have this one all planned out so this will probably be the first one to be finished. So yeah, I'm sorry and enjoy. (: _**

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Ever since Bellatrix was a young girl she had wanted a son. She'd play mummies and Daddies with Andromeda and Narcissa when she was little, she'd be the mummy, Andromeda would be the Daddy and she'd always make Narcissa pretend to be a boy – not that she'd ever be caught dead admitting the great Bellatrix Lestrange once enjoyed such childish and innocent games even if it was many years ago.

In school, she'd always curl up in Rodolphus' arms, talking about the little family they would one day have. They had once decided that they would have three sons-purely so she could taunt her father about having three 'useless' daughters-and they would have cute little simple names like Billy, Percy and John to rebel against the apparent necessity for Blacks to have big extravagant names.

But years on from this all of these innocent childhood dreams and recent teenage plans seemed to be quickly slipping away from Bella. It was April 15th, a year after Bella's marriage to Rodolphus Lestrange, and she found herself sat in a healers office hearing news she wished she would never have to hear.

Absentmindedly rubbing her left arm where currently her magically concealed dark mark was emblazoned onto her skin she stared blankly at the Healer.

"W-What?" was the only word she could manage to utter as her mind worked frantically around the news.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Lestrange, but you have damage you see-along with other issues-and I cannot see you ever being able to have children. You can still try but there's only a 0.01% chance that you will ever be able to have a child." The healer looked to Bellatrix, clearly he had delivered sad news such as this in the past and had lost sympathy or feeling for many of the patients he saw, especially people he viewed to be stuck up snobs such as Bellatrix Lestrange.

Slowly the fragments slowly seemed to piece together in Bellatrix's mind, the years of beatings and sexual abuse, coupled with the incest that had been going on within the Black family for hundreds of years in order to keep their line pure had seemed to help blow yet another foul swoop in Bellatrix Lestranges life. Due to no fault of her own Bella found herself practically infertile.

"Mrs Lestrange? I'm sorry, but there's nothing else I can do for you and as you can probably tell by the vast amount of patients I have waiting outside I have many other people to see today so unless there's anything else I'm going to have to ask you to leave my office." The Healer looked down, trying to look busy signing papers.

Too shocked and upset to even notice the rudeness or uncaring tone the Healer portrayed to her, Bellatrix got up, nodding and disapparated to the edge of her large manors grounds.

She stopped and stared at the building for what seemed like hours, thinking. Thinking about how she had made sure her manor had had vast amounts of gardens and places to explore in the hope that one day she would fill the grounds with the sound of her future children's laughter and noise. Thinking of her recent plans and hints from The Dark Lord that he had hoped to one day have an heir and was planning to bestow that honour upon her, his most trusted, most loyal . . . But all that thinking did nothing now, because she knew it wouldn't be true, ever.

She had failed her lord, she had failed her husband, she had failed herself but worse of all she had done exactly what her father had predicted of her-became a worthless piece of shit-couldn't even give children to her husband to carry on her husbands family name, _not even girls_.

And as she slowly walked up to the dark looming manor she prepared herself for what she knew her so called loving husbands reaction of disappointment would be.

For the first time since she was a teenager, Bellatrix Lestrange cried herself to sleep that night

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_**Sorry if that was a bit naff and I know it's short, I don't have a Beta at the moment but I hope you enjoyed it none the less. Reviews are love and the quicker I get reviews the quicker I upload. xxxxx**_


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